Shrubs or subshrubs, 0.5–1.5 m, armed or unarmed, strigulose or glabrate. Stems erect or decum­bent, often intricately branched; bark dark greenish gray to brownish gray. Leaves appear­ing palmate; stipules 2–6 mm, usually spinose; petiole 0.1–0.2 cm, sometimes spine-tipped; rachis absent; leaflets (3 or)4, blades oblanceolate to linear-oblanceolate, mostly curved or sickle-shaped, often folded or involute, 0.5–1.7(–2.3) × 0.1–0.3(–0.4) cm, base attenuate, apex acute or acuminate, apiculate, surfaces glabrous. Inflorescences with 1(or 2) flowers per fascicle; peduncle-pedicel 0.4–1.6 cm, glabrous. Flowers: calyx broadly campanulate, 5–8 mm, teeth 1.5–2 mm, glabrous, orifice ciliate; corolla orange-yellow, 1.5–2.2 cm. Legumes reddish brown, oblong, 1.5–4 × 0.3–0.4 cm. Seeds 4–8, greenish to reddish brown, ovoid to 4-angled, 3–4 mm. 2n = 16.

Phenology: Flowering Jun–Jul; fruiting Jun–Sep.
Habitat: Roadsides.
Elevation: 1700–2600 m.

Distribution

• Generated Map
• Legacy Map

Introduced; Colo., N.Dak., c Asia.

Discussion

Caragana aurantiaca is known to be cultivated in Manitoba, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Saskatchewan, Colorado, Idaho, Iowa, Massachusetts, New York, Nevada, North Dakota, and South Dakota.

Selected References

None.

Lower Taxa

None.